With over 25 years working in the youth and community development fields Michelle Rhone-Collins has stood up for equity and access for disenfranchised individuals and communities. Most recently, Michelle was the Executive Director of The Children’s Nature Institute in Los Angeles, CA. Under her leadership, The Children’s Nature Institute became a model for environmental advocacy, and justice and holistic community development as a lead partner in the Magnolia Place Community Initiative.
Michelle began her career working with homeless and runaway teens as part of the University Settlement House in NYC's Lower East Side. While there, she ran empowerment groups that taught participants community organizing tools to create both individual and systemic change. She has designed progressive youth leadership development, college preparation, and arts in education programs; directed a residential camp program for children from lower income urban communities; created a Hip Hop theater youth production that showed at the Bowery Ballroom, Central Park Bandshell, and Nuyorican Poets Cafe; developed service learning programs for immigrant youth; and organized a social justice and community service trip to the Punjab region of India. As the Executive Director of a community center in Beacon, NY, Michelle led the charge to keep land from being developed so that it could be used for community purposes and worked to create a new model for gentrification by bridging relationships between new and established residents.
Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Duke University and Masters of Education in Psychological Counseling from Teacher's College/Columbia University with a focus on racism, racial identity, and mental health. She is also the proud mother of two beautiful children ages 8 and 11.
